


Men of Open Spaces

by Chancey_Rose



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: ANZAC, Gallipoli - Freeform, Men of Open Spaces, Short Story, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 02:11:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2530193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chancey_Rose/pseuds/Chancey_Rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two men, a Turk and an Australian, both badly wounded are stuck in a trench together. It's strange how the apparent enemy seems is so human. </p>
<p>Warning, very short.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Men of Open Spaces

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a class assignment I had about taking inspiration from an Australian peom and writing a short story with the poem's them. So, the theme I got from Men of Open Spaces what one of mateship and of the ANZAC spirit, so why not.

"So, do you have any family?" 

The Turkish man, looked up at the man in front of him, his eyebrows knitted together. "I don't understand" he began, rolling the unfamiliar words in his mouth. Jack grinned back at him, propping himself up on his elbows, wincing as he did so. He paused and rubbed his eyes, smudging the mud that was caked on his face.

"You shouldn't move to much, those rags won't stop the flow if you move to much" Sadiq began but Jack waved him off and pushed himself up further until he was sitting. 

"I'll be right," he said, hiding the obvious pain in his voice. Leaning back against the crumbling trench wall, he glanced down at the remains of his khaki shirt. It had been torn into strips and wrapped tightly around his waist. Small crimson spots were blooming along the makeshift bandage, most likely caused by the shrapnel still lodged in his side.

Jack had been walking back to the Australian and New Zealand trenches along an abandoned and poorly made path. Odd bits of barbed wire and thorny shrubs surrounded him on either side, catching on his uniform making him stop. The young Australian had stopped to untangled himself from the thorny trap, when the distinct whistle of a shell hurdling through the air echoed above. The whistling continued to grow in pitch as he looked around for a place to take cover, but before he knew it the earth around him seem to explode. He had woken up in a shallow ditch with a hole both in his left side and from what he could tell his back too. In front of him had been a dazed and badly hurt Sadiq. Apparently, the Turk, had been following him and was caught by the blast as well. 

They sat opposite each other, their wounds crudely wrapped. Neither had weapons on them, and if they did, they hadn't drawn it yet. An air of mutual truths had fall upon them.

"So do you have a family?" Jack asked again. The Turkish man paused, before nodding and scratching his chin. 

"Evet, two brothers."

"What? No wife?"

Sadiq shook his head and looked down at his hands, "No, not yet. What about you?"

"Had a brother, scrawny little thing but could hold his own in a pub."

"Had? Did he join the war too?"

"Nah, too scrawny."Jack flashed him a pained grin, "We were droving cattle across a river near our town, like we normally did, when a bloody big croc showed up and spooked them. They charged at my brother's horse forcing him further into the river. Horse lost its footing, and he was swept away" Jack winced, "He was still clutching the reins when they found him" he said trailing off. 

"I'm sorry to hear that" Sadiq replied, taking a moment to translate his reply. 

Jack continued quietly, keeping his eyes down. His face was pale and his green eyes seemed to have dulled. Sadiq frowned and pushed himself up as well, his joins popping painfully.

"Don't have a wife either, though, I don't really want one. All I've heard about them is that they nag and complain all the time- is something wrong?" 

"You wound, on your stomach. It is bleeding again." Sure enough, a steady stream of blood was  
seeping though and around the tightly wrapped rags, soaking Jack's pants and the dry earth around him. 

"Oh, so it is" Jack said with a shrug. "I'll be fine."

"You are bleeding badly" Sadiq cut him off gravely, "you knew that it would do that, didn't you.

Giving him a quizzing grin he looked at the Turk, "Did I?"

"Evet! You did, but you gave me your first aid pack" he exclaimed, Jack just shrugged again. He had given Sadiq his first aid pack to tourniquet what was left of his arm and keep what meat he had on his legs together. Without it he knew the Turk would have bled out with in minutes.

"Oh well, I'll be fine. You would have died without it, and then I would have had no one to talk too."

The Turkish man stared at him, "I don't, I don't understand"

"Look, by no means do I like you Turks, you've killed many of my mates, but no one deserves to die without a chance."

They continued to talk about their home lives, and in the distance the sound of shells and guns had gone silent and were replaced by shouts and groans of wounded men calling for their medics.

_________

"So what happened after that?" Sadiq looked down at his son. It had been ten years after that day. His son was perched excitedly in his lap; tired and aged eyes met the child's curious and excited ones.  
Giving him a sad smile before replying solemnly, "by the time his medics arrived he had left to see his brother."

**Author's Note:**

> Evet - Turkish for "yes"  
> Droving - the practice of moving livestock over large distances by walking them "on the hoof".


End file.
